Precious Moments
by BarbaraB
Summary: The daughter of two X-Men remembers her favorite aunt.


Author:BarbaraB  
Universe: Comic  
Summary: The daughter of two X-Men remembers her favorite aunt.  
Archive: ask  
Thanks: To Kat for suggesting the title!  
Notes: This is in no way related to any of my other stories. 

**Precious Moments **

  
Out of all of my aunts Ororo was my favorite. If I'm not mistaken she was all of our favorite. Don't get me wrong; we loved our other aunts and uncles just fine, but no one got offended when one of said 'she was the best' and we meant over each others' parents. 

  
I remember how she spoke to us making perfect, blue eye-contact that suggested everything she said was something between the two of us. She never talked to us like we were just kids even when we acted that way. She never had to tell us to do anything twice; we were eager to please her, and on those rare occasions when we got into trouble it felt like we had let her down. 

Once, when I was in the third grade I purposely left my lunch on the kitchen counter hoping Aunt Ro would be the one to bring it to me in school. 

Unfortunately, I forgot the second I walked into the classroom and saw the substitute. 

I was a bossy trouble making know-it-all and above all things a tomboy, but the old lady had been more than I bargained for. I pulled all the classics, organizing the class to do things like dropping books at a certain time, and name switching. At one point the class was playing a game of catch whenever she turned her back to us.   
I threw the ball from my seat in the back -a high fast one- to the front of the room. From the moment I realized my classmate in the front was going to miss everything was in slow motion. The ball bounced inches away from the sub's arm. It ricocheted off of the blackboard, and rolled to the back of the room. The woman turned around livid. Too slowly, I pulled my arm back down to my side, and sat down. 

She stormed to the back of the room, and seized me up by my arm, knocking my chair over backward, and spilling the content of my desk onto the floor, "YOU BRAZEN LITTLE HUSSY!"   
The sub dragged me in an iron clench to the front of the room. My little legs struggled to stand up. At the front of the class in view of all of my peers she stood shaking me, and yelling things I didn't quite understand. Her face was millimeters from my own, blowing nasty teacher breath in my nose and mouth. 

I never heard the door open. Only when I heard her voice did I realize my beloved aunt was there. How much she saw I will never know. I thought she had come to save my life, like I always knew she would. 

"Take your hands off of that child this instant!" Her voice boomed. The old woman and I looked up at her. I imagine I was a sight with my limp legs, arm twisted painfully over my head, and pitiful expression.  
The sub instantly dropped me to the floor, "Who are you?" She asked.  
"I am this child's aunt, and you?"  
"I am the substitute teacher."  
"_Why_ were your hands on her, and _why_ were you yelling so angrily at her in front of these children?"  
The sub explained, and I tried to blink back the tears that were coming to my eyes, knowing I was wrong.  
"May I speak with you outside of the room?"  
The sub nodded and Aunt Ro followed her out. The class began to chatter when they were gone. I was bombarded with questions, mostly about Ororo. No more than a minute passed before the door opened and let the two women in.  
"Get your things, little one. We are leaving."  
I did just that, and after some paper work in the office I was released from school for the day. 

On the way home I got a stern talking to that was almost as a bad as a spanking from my daddy.  
Later when I asked why she took me out of school, she told me that the teacher kept insisting that I was a bad seed that would never amount to anything. She'd said that in her day if she did something like that, she would not only be whipped by her teacher, but by her mother, father, etc.  
Aunt Ro said she didn't doubt it, but things didn't work like that anymore, the physical punishment was left up to the parents.  
I'm not sure if she ever told my mom and dad. 

  
When my cousins would visit which was quite often, we'd run up to Aunt Ro's room and she would tell us about her adventures when she was our age. She was a street smart thief in Cairo, Egypt. Her stories were like something out of a book, "_The Uncanny Urchins_", maybe. 

In the mornings we would try to wake up before her. Sometimes she let us believe we did, but I suspect she did her morning skywalk and laid back down in her bed so we wouldn't be disappointed at 7:30 (we could never get up any earlier) when we threw open her attic door.  
We would cuddle up to her on her bed, explore her room while telling her our stories, and performing for her, each of us trying to outdo the others. No matter how many times we retold the same story, or failed at doing a stupid trick she always applauded and encouraged us. 

  
Going grocery shopping with her was exciting, and we always went along when it was her turn. We'd run to be the first one to get the cart, and then we would pile into it: the smallest in the baby seat up front, two in the large part and anyone else riding on the sides or under.   
We would scream, "Do it, do it!" After much begging she would drive the cart like a bat out of hell, spinning it, and popping wheelies. Sometimes she would disperse us on scavenger hunts to get the groceries. We would also pick out candy bars, and eat them in the store, and when we were done shopping she'd toss the wrappers up there with the rest of the items, and she'd pay for those too. We never got a problem out of the cashiers for doing that. 

For my ninth birthday there was a big celebration. I had been adopted five years earlier by the Summers'. Everyone was there, and I mean everyone, from Stevie Hunter to Amelia Voight to Longshot, and Dazzler. It was more like an X-family reunion. As you can imagine I got lots of presents. The mansion was in a state of chaos for days afterward. 

The party was when everyone first met Ali, Aunt Ro's boyfriend. He was the most handsome man, next to my Daddy and Uncle Remy of course. They flirted endlessly, he played with her hair, and she always had at least a small smile on her face when he was around. 

I recall them sitting by the tree on the big hill that night, her head on his shoulder. We watched intently, waiting for the inevitable moment when they would kiss, so we could scream, "EEEW!" and fall to the ground giggling.  
They were the talk of the adults. No one had known that Aunt Ro had met someone. 

She spent less time around the mansion, and with us. When she did spend time with us, Ali was usually with her, not that we minded. The adults were ecstatic. They were happy for her. I once heard my mom tell my dad that no one was more deserving of love then Ororo. 

A little over six months later, in February, they announced that they were getting married, and by April they were wed.  
The ceremony was small -- compared to my birthday party. Her dress was long sleeved, with no lace. It was smooth satin, and billowed around her feet. The neckline of her dress came down in a "big triangle" as us kids called it. It was the same color as her hair.  
I couldn't see any sign of nervousness in either of them, in fact they looked almost cocky, like they had done this a million times, and were daring something to go wrong. Nothing went askew.  
Our mothers and Jubilee were lined up at Aunt Ro's side, and Ali's brothers and Uncle Remy stood at Ali's side. Uncle Kurt conducted the ceremony of course. Although Aunt Ro was something I didn't understand at the time, called a pagan, the wedding was Christian. When they kissed, the room exploded in cheering akin to a football game.  
They left for a two week honeymoon that night. 

They didn't move in together until over a month later.  
That first Saturday morning that she was back my cousins and I were surprised to find her loft door locked, and no lock picking trick she had taught us would open it. 

I found out about the baby almost a year later when I overheard a conversation between my mom, and Aunt Ro.  
"Oh my God, Ro, you're going to be HUGE!" My mom squealed. I watched from the kitchen doorway as my swooped in to hug Ororo.   
"I know!"  
"I'm so happy for you two!" Mom held her out at arms length and beamed, "I get to plan another baby shower!"  
They laughed.

Those seven and a half months went by in a blur.  
One quiet night everyone was settled in the den watching a movie, when the phone rang. Uncle Logan answered it.  
We half listened to his side of the conversation.  
"Hel-"  
"Now?"  
"Where?"  
He hung up the phone, "Its Roro."  
We hurriedly got up and grabbed our coats, and piled into the cars. We were all excited and tense, and my mom spent the car trip jabbering on excitedly to Jubilee over the phone. 

Uncle Hank went straight in to the delivery room. We stayed in the waiting room, when Ali came out and told us that he had rushed Aunt Ro to the hospital when the contractions started. The doctors had just kicked him out. 

My mom went into the DR, and stayed for a long time. I sat in one of the chairs swinging my legs back and forth, staring intently at the swinging doors, jumping whenever they opened. Ali paced in front of the doors, every once in a while looking through the little windows to see if he could get a peek.  
A doctor came out and stopped him from pacing. The adults and I rushed him.  
"There was a lot of blood loss from the mother, more than usual..." He said some things I didn't understand, "...The baby is in excellent condition. I'm sorry."  
The doctor led Ali back into the delivery room, and soon my mom came out.  
She was crying.  
Uncle Logan picked me up and took me straight to Uncle Warren and Aunt Betsy's. 

My two cousins had lots of questions to ask me, and we tried not to think the worst. I stayed the night there, but I couldn't sleep. The next morning my mom sat me down and explained. 

Aunt Ro died from complications.

The new baby girl came home the day before the funeral. Even at eleven, I knew that Emma Frost gave a beautiful eulogy. 

These days Aunt Ro's daughter follows us around putting together a vision of her mother from the stories we tell her. She lives with her father, but he is just as much family as Aunt Ororo was. 

  
Fin  
So? What do you think? please review 


End file.
